Planning wrangles not over, says group

PLANNING controversies are not a thing of the past, the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) has warned.

In the light of recent rezoning decisions, the IPI said some councillors seemed unworried by the prospect of public shame or the threat of legal action.

“It only takes a small number of councillors to bring the planning system into disrepute,” IPI president Rachel Kenny said.

“A lot of them don’t state their reasons for rejecting the county manager’s advice or they don’t look at the impact of their plans.”

Speaking at the IPI’s national conference in Limerick yesterday, Ms Kenny cited two recent planning controversies.

In Loughrea, Co Galway, a majority of councillors ignored planning advice and rezoned land belonging to a constituent for industrial use.

The land was due to be used for Loughrea’s long- awaited bypass and the councillors only reversed their decision after strong opposition from the NRA and the local community.

Last month, Kerry County Council said it had to pay almost €400,000 in compensation to a developer. Councillors voted against planning advice to rezone a plot of nine acres, located well outside the town, from amenity to general development purposes.

The developer was twice given permission for housing but was refused after appeals by An Taisce.

An arbitration hearing reduced his claim for €2m in compensation to €381,000.

The Irish Planning Institute wants rezoning decisions to require a three- quarters majority vote of all councillors, rather than a simple majority of councillors present. It also wants an independent person to oversee all draft country development plans and legislation to force councillors to reveal their reasons for voting against planing advice.

Fine Gael TD and councillor Michael Ring said he favours three-quarters majority voting on rezoning.